When do you think grocery shopping will have a sense of normalcy again?

[Wendy31]

We went to Publix today.

No ground beef - frozen or fresh.

No chicken breasts - frozen or fresh.

They were almost out of lunch meat, & we had to go w/ a different brand.

No frozen vegetables except edamame and green pepper.

Eggs were limited to 2 cartons per customer.

Canned soup was extremely limited. I can only use Campbell’s Healthy Request Cream of Chicken because the regular has MSG in it, & they were completely out.

No ramen packages.

No canned biscuits, pizza dough, cinnamon rolls.

No flour, but we did get cornmeal mix.

No Emergen-C.

I didn’t even look at the toilet paper aisle.

We were able to get corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, & Lucky Charms for St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow.

I am down to 2 pounds of ground beef & 1 package of frozen chicken breasts.

I got a rotisserie chicken & shredded it for chicken spaghetti tonight. And we got some kind of steak for stir fry on Wednesday.

DH is off tomorrow, so he’s going to go back out in the morning right when the store opens.

 

[Kittyblue]

We went grocery shopping Friday night and again tonight to pick up something we forgot. We thought it was bad Friday, it's much worse today. The only meat was crawdads and pigs feet. The only milk was flavored. Frozen foods, produce, canned goods, and breads mostly wiped out. I'm going to have to inventory the pantry and figure stuff out next week.

 

[Diznygrl]

It seems like the more they keep announcing stricter social distance laws, the more people keep panicking and going to the store.

My mom is at the store right now, and from what I can tell today is the worst day yet in my area in terms of panic buying.

 

[Julie's Haircut]

Our guvna (NJ) announced a 8pm to 5am curfew this morning. I heard it triggered another round of panic buying that had started to subside by Saturday afternoon.

Theaters, gyms, casinos, other entertainment places, bars, etc, all are closed until further notice.

I'm expecting additional restrictions or forced closures in the coming days: shopping malls and other non-essential stores, leaving only supermarkets, drug stores, perhaps hardware stores, gas station C-stores and a few others open.

 

[chaboyd]

DD had a doctor's appt today, so I went into Walmart to get milk. First time I have been out since Friday morning. No ground beef or ground turkey, no deli meats, no TP. I saw people leaving with cases of Ramen, so I guess there was that.

 

[StephMK]

We just got back from our local major chain grocery. Everything was pretty well stocked except TP. It was busy but they had all the registers open. I've never seen that before! I ran into a friend whose college age sons were sent home so her cart looked like she was a major hoarder. Nope, she'll probably be back on Monday!

Haha, that was me on Friday too. My son is coming home and that drastically changed the grocery needs. Plus I'd cleaned out the pantry for an upcoming move. I felt so awkward and mentioned my son to the cashier. lol

I went out again today because I wasn't confident we had 2 weeks of food, plus I was out of milk. Today I picked up additional frozen and shelf stable things.

Friday and today were busy but Iines were not long. Target was out of milk and almost all creamer, some products missing, and the cleaning aisle appeared empty. Bakers had the dairy section stocked so we are set.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Closest grocery to us - no tomatoes, milk, bananas, and only one brand of bread & hamburger buns.

Went to another one - no milk, bananas, tomatoes.

Finally wound up at Sam's Club - Opens at 10:00, but due to a miscommunication with the public regarding the change in hours (starts tomorrow) there was a line that actually started at 9:00. They let them in first, before allowing anyone arriving at 10:00 could go in. We got in around 10:20-10:25. They did have milk, bananas, paper towels (one brand only). No bologna, hamburger, toilet paper, and the cheaper tuna (but had the pricier one).

I'm waiting for "normal". Hope it's soon.

 

[LiteBrite]

We decided to try our luck arriving at WalMart at their new opening time this morning (6am). There was a group of maybe 40 people waiting when we arrived just before 6.

We found -
No TP, but a few paper towels and a small supply of tissues
Less eggs than normal
Very little lunchmeat
About half the potato chip aisle empty
Frozen meat was hit or miss - no boneless skinless chicken thighs, but plenty of bone-in and also wing quarters
The only fresh chicken was chicken feet!
A decent selection of fresh pork chops
Frozen veggies also hit or miss - almost no broccoli, but plenty of green beans
Very little on the bread aisle, but plenty of tortillas (corn and flour)
No onions
Only one kind of potatoes
A decent amount of fresh veg, no zucchini but plenty of yellow squash for example
No bananas


I was really surprised to see how much stocking was happening while we were there. I thought the reason for shutting the 24 hour stores down overnight was so they could clean and stock, but clearly they didn't get it done before opening this morning. This new schedule is only on its 2nd day, though, so maybe they haven't been able to adequately staff the overnight yet.

 

[ThistleMae]

I saw a guy with a cart full of bananas. How to you keep bananas? Freeze them maybe and make smoothies?

 

[firefly_ris]

I saw a guy with a cart full of bananas. How to you keep bananas? Freeze them maybe and make smoothies?

That's what I do when they are on sale. Dice them up and put in a freezer bag.

 

[kymom99]

My guess? A week or so. There aren't supply-line disruptions so it is merely the public panic and now the news that the kids are going to be home all day for weeks driving the high-volume buying, and that will fade out or be satisfied in relatively short order.

I'm just annoyed that this aligned with St. Patrick's Day. Corned beef goes on sale once a year, and I usually stock the freezer. But this year? I got one, and count myself lucky to have that - it was the last at the store I went to!

Our meijer has corned beef. Lots

 

[skyblue17]

General question.

Does no one have specialty markets anymore? Everyone keeps mentioning Target and Walmart and all the big name supermarkets. I know specialty markets aren't going to be as budget-friendly, but they likely have the majority of the things people are looking for, and they will be less crowded. And can probably use the business.

 

[gwynne]

I placed an online order with my local grocery store for free pick up there. The only available pickup date is Mar 23. I reserved a time then.
I'm assuming they are booked, and only adding one day at a time.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

General question.

Does no one have specialty markets anymore? Everyone keeps mentioning Target and Walmart and all the big name supermarkets. I know specialty markets aren't going to be as budget-friendly, but they likely have the majority of the things people are looking for, and they will be less crowded. And can probably use the business.

No not really. I do know there are a couple of Mexican grocery stores closeby that's really all I can think of off the top of my head.

We also have local grocerers such as Hy-Vee, Price Chopper, Hen House, etc.

You'd be more likely to find more specialty markets in urban areas than the land of suburbia.

 

[firefly_ris]

General question.

Does no one have speciality markets anymore? Everyone keeps mentioning Target and Walmart and all the big name supermarkets. I know speciality markets aren't going to be as budget-friendly, but they likely have the majority of the things people are looking for, and they will be less crowded. And can probably use the business.

We just got a ton of meat for the freezer from a farmer about a mile away. Ground beef $4/lb and a couple slabs of bacon.

 

[skyblue17]

No not really. I do know there are a couple of Mexican grocery stores closeby that's really all I can think of off the top of my head.

We also have local grocerers such as Hy-Vee, Price Chopper, Hen House, etc.

You'd be more likely to find more specialty markets in urban areas than the land of suburbia.

I grew up in a suburb, in Connecticut. We had bakeries, meat markets, delis, etc. I knew that more rural areas have limited options but it never really occurred to me that places where a fair amount of people live don't have anything but supermarkets.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I grew up in a suburb, in Connecticut. We had bakeries, meat markets, delis, etc. I knew that more rural areas have limited options but it never really occurred to me that places where a fair amount of people live don't have anything but supermarkets.

I do think you'd be more likely to find more specialty stores in urban areas, maybe due to the fact that limited space encourages that, but I suppose I should have clarified a place will only sustain what is profitable. So I guess you could say highly specialized, stand alone stores, aren't as profitable here and thus aren't as plentiful. Standalone dessert places almost always go out of business here within the first year or two.

When you posed the question it seemed like it was in relation to buying items from the big box stores that you could also find at specialty markets. We don't have that much here. Sure you'll find a bakery here or there but they aren't going to be a place you're going to to replace going to the store unless you're hankering for an eclair lol. I mean I can buy an eclair from Walmart but more than likely I'm going there for other items.

There is a place to get meat that is located about 25mins from me but that's about the only place I can think of that is very specialized aside from the Mexican grocery stores I mentioned. Now I don't know every place in the area but our suburbia (which is quite spread out) just doesn't have what you're talking about as much..at least not in respects to replacing a bunch of what you can get at a larger grocery store. I will say Hy-Vee for instance while it is a chain grocery store considered regional (its in several states) it is employee owned.

I should note we do have a family member that does his own smoking of meats and bbq, he is also a place I could go to and we do know we are going to drive to his place and get some to help support him. He is however located 45mins from us.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I should say we do have several Farmers Markets but the ones here in my area aren't in season yet (normally starts April who knows though).

The one that operates year round has to adjust because of the ban and that's also located in large Downtown (which is urban) area on the other side of the state line. Farmers Markets don't really encourage social distancing either though I know some businesses contained within the confines of the Farmers Market Downtown are doing the curbside as the dine-in ban became effective.

 

[Searc]

General question.

Does no one have specialty markets anymore? Everyone keeps mentioning Target and Walmart and all the big name supermarkets. I know specialty markets aren't going to be as budget-friendly, but they likely have the majority of the things people are looking for, and they will be less crowded. And can probably use the business.

Nope, other than a meat market (which has insane prices on a good day). I live in rural WI, not an urban center.

 

[skyblue17]

Nope, other than a meat market (which has insane prices on a good day). I live in rural WI, not an urban center.

Rural, I understand. I definitely don't think you need to live in an urban center to have access to non-supermarkets though. My brother lives in mid-state New York and there are still towns that have places to buy food that aren't supermarkets.

Perhaps all of this is going to make us rethink how we function in this way. The world existed off of smaller markets for hundreds of years before everyone decided that Walmart was better.